May 30, 2013

Texas AD Dodds favors 8-team playoff field in college football #Longhorns

DeLoss Doods, Texas’ men’s athletic director and a long-time proponent of a playoff system for college football, applauded the creation of the College Football Playoff after the 2014 season as a “baby step” in the right direction.

But he said during today’s session at the Big 12 spring meetings that the four-team playoff field needs to be expanded before it can be viewed as a solution to crowning college football’s top team with a minimum of controversy.

“I’m kind of an 8-team person,” Dodds said, discussing his playoff preference. “I think there will be a lot of conversation about the fifth team that didn’t get in or the 11-1 team that didn’t get in because somebody’s 12-0 that maybe wasn’t quite as good as the 11-1 team. If you take eight, then you don’t really have that. The ninth team has got a concern but it’s not really like the fifth team.”

Dodds called implementation of the playoff “a good step” and said he has no interest in serving on the selection committee that will seed the four-team playoff field. But he said there are “a lot of good people out there” who have expressed a desire to serve on the committee and would do a good job in that role.

Dodds said he is not concerned about whether other leagues in the playoff mix schedule eight or nine conference games as part of their regular seasons. He also said Big 12 officials have not been pressured by administrators in other leagues to add a championship game to help determine their champion.

As a 10-member league, the Big 12 is the lone conference in the playoff mix that will not stage a championship game to help finalize its playoff representative(s).

“Some years, it’s going to be unlevel in our favor. Some years, it’s going to be unlevel in their favor,” Dodds said about the lack of a title game in football. “Anybody that tries to change that is going to get bit a few years later.”